Main menu

The Weird Week in Review

Famous Photo on Fake I.D.

Police in Recife, Brazil, arrested Ricardo Sergio Freire de Barros on charges of fraud after he tried to open a bank account using a fake identity. The name on the fraudulent identification card was Joao Pedro dos Santos, but the picture clearly showed an image of American movie star Jack Nicholson. The 41-year-old Barros apparently does not look that much like the infinitely-recognizable 71-year-old Nicholson. Barros was charged with falsification of a public document.

Tazer Ball

Leif Kellenberger, Erik Wunsch, and Eric Prumm invented a new sport. It resembles a normal ball game, in which two teams try to run a ball past the opposing team into a goal, but there is on difference: each player is armed with an electric stun gun. The stun guns are used against whoever is carrying the ball. In Tazer ball, a player can get stunned dozens of times in a game.

The first official Ultimate Tazer Ball tournament was in January and there are currently four official professional UTB teams: the Philadelphia Killawatts, the San Diego Spartans, the Toronto Terror and the Los Angeles Nightlight.

Kellenberger said the teams play at tournaments for prizes, but he and his co-founders are in talks with various networks for a TV deal that could pay the players.

Of course, the sport has its critics. Some people think using stun guns in a game is unsafe.

Watermelon-sized Pine Cones

The Baw Baw Council has issued a warning to residents about the danger of falling pine cones. A 120-year-old bunya pine in Warragul, Victoria, Australia, had begun releasing cones, which can weigh up to ten kilograms! The tree is 20 meters tall, so the falling cones present a real danger. Council workers have been removing the cones from the tree as fast as they can before they fall.

Google Street View Sued Over Urination Image

The Google Street View team caught a resident of a French village in the Maine-et-Loire region peeing in his own garden. Attorney Jean-Noel Bouillaud filed the suit on behalf of his unnamed client. The man wants his picture removed, and says he has become an object of ridicule in his small village. A lawyer for Google says the suit is "implausible."

Leap Day Families

What are the odds? Michelle Birnbaum of New Jersey was born on Leap Day 32 years ago, and then gave birth to a daughter four years ago, also on Leap Day. So her daughter was born on her seventh birthday. Those who crunch the numbers say the odds are about two million to one. Considering how many people there are in the U.S., it should happen again.

And it did. Shaneka Hinton of Orlando, Florida, was born on Leap Day in 1988. Wednesday, she turned 24, although it was only her sixth birthday. Hinton spent the day in the maternity ward as she gave birth to Christina Raynette Clemente, yet another Leap Day baby! And what's more -Hinton's son was born on the Fourth of July. Now Hinton and her daughter will be able to celebrate their birthdays together -once every four years.

Father Arrested Over Daughter's Artwork

Jessie Sansone of Kitchener, Ontario, was arrested at his daughter's school on Wednesday, but found out why only hours later. His 4-year-old daughter had drawn a picture of a man holding a gun, and school officials suspected she had seen a gun in the home. The girl had told them, “That’s my daddy’s. He uses it to shoot bad guys and monsters.” Sansone was told he was arrested for firearm possession. His wife was brought in for an interview with child welfare workers. The school principal explained that they were obligated by law to report any suspicion of child endangerment. The child welfare agency chose to call the police, who arrested and searched the father, but found no evidence of firearm possession. After he was released, Sansone gave permission for a search of his house, and no firearm was found.

Man Calls 911 to Report Being Invisible

An unnamed 28-year-old man in Barrow County, Georgia called emergency services to report that he was invisible. Both sheriff's deputies and paramedics responded to the call, and found that the man was not invisible, but wanted a ride to the hospital because he was out of medicine. Records show the man had an arrest record for criminal trespass and failure to appear. Police told him to "dry up" on the medicine and warned that if he called again for a non-emergency, he would be arrested.

Also on Mental Floss:

DID YOU KNOW? Marlon Brando hated memorizing lines so much that he posted cue cards everywhere to help him get through scenes.
He even asked for lines to be written on an actress's posterior. (That request was denied.)